5:09 PM, February 20, 2013

Former Troy Mayor Janice Daniels / Detroit Free Press file photo

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING -- For those who thought they had heard the last of former Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, think again.

Daniels, the controversial figure who was recalled from her job as Mayor in November, is trying to gain a foothold in state Republican Party politics.

She’s running for a spot on the 110-member state committee that governs the Michigan Republican Party.

“Janice Daniels is not a ‘go-along-to-get-along’ politician,” County Commissioner Robert Gosselin, R-Troy, wrote in a letter to party members urging them to support her run for the GOP office. “She will fight for our conservative values.”

It was that fight that sparked the recall campaign against her. It started with a disparaging comment about homosexuals she made on her Facebook page after the state of New York approved same-sex marriages. It escalated when she voted against accepting already approved federal funding for a transit center in Troy.

She lost the recall election by 1,770 votes.

Daniels didn’t return a phone call from the Free Press to talk about her latest candidacy.

But Gosselin said in his letter: “Her record as an elected city official proves she stands with you for smaller government. She was the only one as Mayor to vote NO on the Troy tax increase and to consistently vote NO on the boon-doggle Troy Transit Center that will cost almost 7 million dollars of your federal tax money.”

While she has a core of support in Troy, Oakland County Republican Party chairman Jim Thienel said her chances are slim when Republicans convene on Friday and Saturday to elect state committee members and the party’s chairman.

“She entered late and she doesn’t have any base outside of Troy,” he said. “The controversy surrounding her won’t play into the decision. That controversy is outside the Republican Party.”

Daniels is running for one of six positions on the committee from the 11th Congressional district. Three members have to be men and three women. About 12 people are seeking the job, Thienel said.

The committee does things like approve the party’s statewide budget, discuss policy positions and act as a surrogate for the party back in their home district, said Matt Frendewey, spokesmen for the Michigan GOP.